Sunday, December 16, 2012

Morgan Freeman: Newtown Tragedy

An Angel Crying

Morgan Freeman's take on what happened in the Newtown Tragedy:

"You want to know, "Why?" This may sound cynical, but here is why. It's because of the way the media reports it. 

Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter -- like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of one single victim of Columbine?

Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and they want to top it by doing something even worse, and going out in a memorable way. 

Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening.

Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Are there any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen, because they don't sell. 

So congratulations, sensationalist media. You've just lit the fire for someone else out there to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and by remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research, instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

Victoria Soto , teacher was 27.

Allison Wyatt was six.

Benjamin Wheeler was six.

Avielle Richman was six.

Jessica Rekos was six.

Caroline Previdi was six.

Noah Pozner was six.

Jack Pinto was six.

Emilie Parker was six.

Grace McDonnell was seven.

James Mattioli was five.

Jesse Lewis was six.

Chase Kowalski was seven.

Catherine Hubbard was six.

Madeleine Hsu was six.

Dylan Hockley was six.

Ana Marquez-Greene was six.

Josephine Gay was seven.

Olivia Engel was six.

Daniel Barden was seven.

Charlotte Bacon was six.

Rachel Davino was 29.

Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist, was 56.

Anne Marie Murphy was 52.

Lauren Rousseau, a teacher, was 30.

Dawn Hochsprung, the principal, was 47.



 "A writer soon learns that easy to read is hard to write." ~CJ Heck


Thursday, December 13, 2012

A Lesson in Irony

A good friend sent me the following in an email this morning:

A Lesson in Irony . . .

Food Stamp Graph


The Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is proud to be distributing the greatest number of free meals and food stamps ever -- to 46 million people!

It Works for the Animals ...

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of The Interior, asks us, "Please Do Not Feed the Animals."

Their stated reason for the policy is, 

"Because the animals will grow dependent upon handouts, and will not learn to take care of themselves."

This ends today's lesson ... kinda makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Rather than hand out food stamps and free meals, shouldn't the government help them find employment and/or educate them so they can earn and be independent? Would this not also give them a true sense of self worth? I'm sure you are familiar with a Biblical quote about GIVING them fish, or TEACHING them HOW to fish ... I feel the government is putting a Bandaid on the problem, instead of suturing a gaping wound ...

The same good friend who sent me this article, himself a Vietnam vet, wrote the following comment in a veteran's group on Facebook (and I quote):

"My feelings are that EVERYONE right out of high school ought to have to do 2 years of service for this country, whether it's in the military, the job corp or even the peace corp, with the government putting aside money for their education.

This breaks the apron strings back at home and, besides giving them skills in service, would give them a lasting sense of self worth. Then after their two years of service, they could go on to college if they wish, or they would be far better equipped to get a job. This gets them away from the helping hands at home and from gov't agencies..........just my 2 cents worth."

I think what he says is worth far more than a mere 2 cents, don't you?


"A writer soon learns that easy to read is hard to write." ~CJ Heck





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